By Favour Nnabugwu

The FCT Administration in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development is working out modalities to enable owners of the 5,000 Gwarinpa II houses get their certificates of occupancy, C of O .

This was disclosed by the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed when he hosted the Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ama Pepple at the  FCT Administration headquarters in Abuja.

It was against this backdrop that the Minister set up a 17_member Technical Committee to holistically look into all grey areas like development control, re_certification and environmental issues as it concerns the Gwarinpa II Housing Estate.

Senator Mohammed lamented that a property without title document will deny the owner the opportunity to access credit facilities as such documents are meant to serve as collateral.

He called on the Federal Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development and its agencies to support the new policy of the FCT Administration to provide low cost houses in the Area Councils and Satellite Towns of the Federal Capital Territory.
While reiterating that government policies are dynamic, the Minister said he has approved 21 hectares of land for the building of prototype houses in Gwagwalada by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

According to him, the Technical Committee which is expected to submit its report in three weeks will be chaired by the FCDA Executive Secretary, Engr. Adamu Ismaila.

Members of the committee include the Managing Director of FHA, Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Directors of FCT Urban & Regional Planning; Mapping & Survey; Mass Housing; Land Administration; AGIS; General Counsel/Secretary of FCT Legal Secretariat; SSA HMOS; MD Aso Savings & Loans and  GMD, Abuja Investment Company Limited.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ama Pepple called on the FCT Minister to resolve the issues surrounding the title documents of the 5,000 Gwarinpa II Housing Estate built by the Federal Housing Authority.

The Minister promised to support the housing policy of the FCT Administration because it is in line with housing transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

She pleaded with the FCT Minister to allocate 21 hectares of land and 2,000 hectares of land in Gwagwalada and Bwari Area Councils to build low cost houses.